Dr. Melissa Flagg is a Senior Advisor at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown University, where she previously was employed as a Senior Fellow. Melissa works and has worked in a variety of consultancy, senior fellow, and board member roles. Previously she served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research, responsible for policy and oversight of Defense Department science and technology programs including basic research through advanced technology development and the DoD laboratory enterprise. She has worked at the State Department, the Office of Naval Research, the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Army Research Laboratory. She holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and a B.S. in Pharmacy.
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Melissa Flagg
Senior AdvisorRelated Content
This brief provides a framework for a systems-oriented approach to technology and national security strategy. It identifies and discusses the tensions among three strategic goals of technology and national security policy—driving technological innovation, impeding adversaries’… Read More
Data Snapshots are informative descriptions and quick analyses that dig into CSET’s unique data resources. This three-part series presents a method to explore and visualize connections across CSET’s research clusters and enable identification of research… Read More
Data Snapshots are informative descriptions and quick analyses that dig into CSET’s unique data resources. This three-part series presents a method to explore and visualize connections across CSET’s research clusters and enable identification of research… Read More
Data Snapshots are informative descriptions and quick analyses that dig into CSET’s unique data resources. This three-part series presents a method to explore and visualize connections across CSET’s research clusters and enable identification of research… Read More
Research Impact, Research Output, and the Role of International Collaboration
November 2021This data brief explores how international collaboration relates to the impact and output of research publications. Focusing on the top 10 countries with the highest publication output from 2010 to 2019, the authors provide a… Read More
Militaries around the world have often relied on the largest global defense companies to acquire and integrate cutting-edge technologies. This issue brief examines the investment and mergers and acquisition activities in artificial intelligence of the… Read More
As dual-use technologies transform the national security landscape, the U.S. Department of Defense has established a variety of offices and programs dedicated to bringing private sector innovation into the military. However, these efforts have largely… Read More
Comparing the United States’ and China’s Leading Roles in the Landscape of Science
June 2021Using CSET’s new Map of Science to examine clusters of research publications, this data brief presents a comparative analysis of U.S. and Chinese research publication outputs. The authors find that global competition outcomes differ depending… Read More
The global map of research has shifted dramatically over the last 20 years. Annual global investment in research and development has tripled, and the United States’ share of both global R&D funding and total research… Read More
Artificial intelligence is said to be transforming the global economy and society in what some dub the “fourth industrial revolution.” This data brief analyzes media representations of AI and the alignments, or misalignments, with job… Read More
The advantages of nations depend in part on their access to new inventions—and modern applications of artificial intelligence can help accelerate the creation of new inventions in the years ahead. This data brief is a… Read More
U.S. research security requires trust and collaboration between those conducting R&D and the federal government. Most R&D takes place in the private sector, outside of government authority and control, and researchers are wary of federal… Read More
China’s surge in artificial intelligence development has been fueled, in large part, by advances in computer vision, the AI subdomain that makes powerful facial recognition technologies possible. This data brief compares U.S. and Chinese computer… Read More
U.S. Demand for AI-Related Talent Part II: Degree Majors and Skills Assessment
September 2020Future U.S. competitiveness in artificial intelligence will require a robust AI workforce. This data brief analyzes market demand for AI-related jobs to determine the skills necessary in the field. It concerns jobs considered both “core… Read More
The United States must adopt a new approach to R&D policy to optimize the diversity of the current system, manage the risks of system dispersion and deliver the benefits of R&D to society. This policy… Read More
Establishing a new public-private institution to improve American research security… Read More
How to Lead Innovation in a Changed World
September 2020"U.S. S&T policy must now progress from its successful postwar framework to a new framework fit for the twenty-first century," write CSET's Melissa Flagg and Paul Harris in Issues in Science and Technology. Read More
The U.S. government and industry both see artificial intelligence as a pivotal technology for future growth and competitiveness. What skills will be needed to create, integrate, and deploy AI applications? This data brief analyzes market… Read More
Research and development funding and technological leadership are crucial to sustaining America’s comparative advantages. While the prevailing narrative suggests that China leads in a bipolar competition, in reality, the United States and its allies comprise… Read More
With the increasing importance of artificial intelligence and the competition for AI talent, it is essential to understand the U.S. domestic industrial AI landscape. This data brief maps where AI talent is produced, where it… Read More
America’s Future Lies in Technical Alliances
January 2020Prevailing frameworks ignore the uniqueness of America’s R&D ecosystem and the tremendous expansion of global R&D beyond China. The United States must recognize the power of R&D as a cornerstone of the modern global landscape. Read More